252 



NA TURE 



\yau. 13. i: 



silliness" is to be regretted chiefly for h's own sake. He 

 has injured his reputation for common-sense, and this 

 even a great genius cannot afford to do. 



THE NATIONAL SCIENCE COLLECTIONS 



'F" HE following Report of a Committee appointed by 

 1 the Government to consider the housing of the 

 objects illustrating the physical sciences belonging to the 

 nation has recently been printed and circulated. The 

 Committee consisted of Sir F. Bramwell (Chairman), 

 Lord Lingen, Colonel Donnelly, C.B., and Mr. Mitford, 

 C.B. :— 



1. We, the Committee appointed by the Lords Com- 

 missioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to consider certain 

 questions that have arisen in regard to the Scientific and 

 Technical Collections at South Kensington, now beg 

 leave to present to their Lordships our Report thereon. 



2. The appointment of the Committee included the 

 name of Sir Francis Sandford, K.C.B. ; but this gentle- 

 man, in consequence of the pressure of other public 

 business, has been unable to attend any of our meetings, 

 and he has authorised the other members to proceecl 

 with the inquiry, and to report, in his absence. 



3. Our instructions were conveyed in a letter, dated 

 January 14, 18S4, and a memorandum accompanying it, 

 from Lord Richard Grosvenor to the Chairman, and 

 were to the following effect : — 



" It will be the duty of the Committee (i) to consider 

 and report upon the scope of the Scientific and Technical 

 Collections, including the Patent Museum, and the space 

 required for them, immediately and prospectively ; (2) to 

 suggest plans for housing these Collections in the existing 

 galleries to the south of the Horticultural Gardens, or in 

 new galleries to be built upon their site, and the adjacent 

 ground now the property of the Government." 



Present disposal of the Science Collections 



4. Before we enter on the consideration of these ques- 

 tions, it will be convenient to explain how the collections 

 are at present housed. 



They are contained in five buildings which are shown 

 on the accompanying Plan, Drawing No. L, and are 

 marked a, b, c, d, e ; whereof \, b, c, and D are on the 

 west, and e is on the east side of Exhibition Road. 



The buildings a, b, E, coloured yellow on the plan, and 

 their sites, are the freehold property of the Government ; 

 the buildings c, d, coloured blue, and their sites, are the 

 property of the Royal Commissioners of i85l,from whom 

 they are rented by the Government. 



5. c is a block forming the centre portion of the gal- 

 leries to the south of the Horticultural Gardens. It is 

 about 292 feet long, 55 feet wide, and two stories high. 

 It contains 22,000 square feet of available floor-space. 



This building is the property of the Royal Commis- 

 sioners of 1851, and is at present leased from them by 

 the Government for 1500/. per annum. The lease ter- 

 minates in 1890 or 1897, with a power up to January 

 1888 of purchase for the sum of 30,000/., or, at the option 

 of the Commissioners, for such sum, not exceeding 

 35,000/., as may be tixed by the President of the Institute 

 of British Architects. 



6. A and B are the southern wing-galleries, the former 

 on the east, and the latter on the west side of the central 

 block C, and having short returns or spurs, a' and b', to 

 the northward, at their external ends. 



These wing-galleries extend about 280 feet in length on 

 each side of the central block ; they are about 26 feet 

 wide, and two stories high. 



The returns at each end are each 72 feet long, and one 

 story high. 



The whole contain about 29,500 square feet of avail 

 able floor-space. 



These buildings, and their sites, are the property of the 

 Government. 



7. D is a building known by the name of the Western 

 Gallery. It is 600 feet long, 33 feet wide, and two stories 

 high. It contains about 36,560 square feet of available 

 floor-space. 



This building is the property of the Royal Commis- 

 sioners of 1 85 1, and is at present rented from them by 

 the Government for the sum of 200c/. per annum. We 

 believe, however, it is desired to give up the tenancy if 

 possible. 



8. E is a temporary building one story high, abutting 

 on the south end of the permanent buildings of the 

 Museum on the eastern side of the Exhibition Road. It 

 contains 7500 square feet of available floor-space. 



It is the property of the Government, but we under- 

 stand it must be pulled down before long, to make way 

 for more permanent erections. 



9. Th^se buildings are not altogether devoted to the 

 Science collections. 



The National Portrait Gallery at present occupies 

 19,040 square feet, partly in the two floors of the eastern 

 wing a (a portion of the freehold), and partly in the 

 eastern section of the central block c (the leasehold por- 

 tion), of the south galleries. A space of 7500 square feet 

 in the upper floor of the central leasehold block C, is also 

 reserved for examination-rooms. 



A portion of the ground floor of the western gallery, D, 

 has been, up to the present time, occupied by the Pitt- 

 Rivers Loan Collection, but this collection is in course of 

 removal to Oxford. 



10. The Science collections are now contained in the 

 western part of the ground floor of the leasehold central 

 block C ; in the ground floor and in part of the upper 

 floor of the western freehold wing b ; in the northern 

 end spurs a' and B' ; in the two floors of the western 

 gallery D ; and in an unsightly wooden passage K. 



This passage runs outside the southern wall of the 

 south gallery, and forms the only approach from Exhi- 

 bition Road to the Science collections, it not being 

 possible to allow the public to use the Portrait Gallery as 

 a thoroughfare. 



The " Patent Museum ' is contained in the temporary 

 building E. 



11. The total floor-space now occupied by the Science 

 collections is therefore about as follows : — 



Square feet 



Total space in c 22,000 



,, ,, A, B, and A', b' 29.500 



,, ,, D 36,560 



E 7.500 



Deduct Fori; 

 ,, Exar 



ail Gallery 

 lination-Rooms 



19,040 

 7.500 



95,560 



26,540 



Total occupied by the Collection? ... 69,020 



12. The Dravving No. I. also shows (marked G and 

 coloured red) the area of land which belongs to the 

 Government south of the present south galleries, which 

 land is implied in our instructions to be available for 

 luildings to house the collections. 



Scope of the Collections, and Space required 



FOR THEM 



13. We may now proceed to report on the first subject 

 submitted to us, namely : — 



The scope of the Scientific and Technical Collections, 

 includi?ii: the Patent Museum, ami the space required for 

 them, immediately and prospectively. 



14. A Museum of Science was contemplated as an 

 integral part of the Science and Art Department from its 

 creation in 1853. 



